Hi all,

I hope someone can help me out. I have a Craftsman 5HP, 22gal unit, model 919.165010

Specifications:
Air delivery: 8.6 SCFM @ 40 psi---6.4 SCFM @ 90 psi
unit is 130 PSI max.

I've used this a lot with my various air tools, but want to try to use a D/A sander, HVLP gun and a small media blaster (soda or traditional).

I know blasting take a lot of air, but i'm only looking for a very small unit. Eastwood has some interesting products, but I want to understand more related to air flow requirements...

I've noticed most air tools note minimum CFM to work, not SCFM. How do I convert one to the other??

Suggestions on sanders, paint guns or media blasters that would work with my compressor??

Thanks very much!

Sell it and get something with at least a 60 gallon tank if you plan on doing much blasting. Home Depot has decent ones for $400-$500 that are good enough for a home shop but you'll need 220 in your shop to run it.

My cabinet blaster blasts 5 minutes before my compressor kicks in and runs about 40 minutes before the pressure drops below 50 PSI. I have a single stage 60 gal 5HP compressor I bought at Builders Square (100 yrs ago). To really blast well with a pressure blaster you need 15 CFM and some reserve capacity in the tank. you can run all the things you mentioned with you current compressor but you will wait. Waiting might not be the best thing with that HVLP gun.

Jeff

I've noticed most air tools note minimum CFM to work, not SCFM. How do I convert one to the other??



Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) means basically the same thing as Standard Cubic Feet per Minute (SCFM). SCFM includes consideration of temperature, humidity, altitude, atmosphereic pressure, etc, for a more precise calculation of the flow. The 2 terms mean more to an engineer rather than to us for our home air tool needs. For our needs either rating can be considered as the same. You may also see Actual Cubic Feet per Minute (ACFM) which is a measurement taken at a specific point downline of the compressor. This might be used when calculating pipe/line size.

Either way, the more air the better! .....Jb

My cabinet blaster blasts 5 minutes before my compressor kicks in and runs about 40 minutes before the pressure drops below 50 PSI. I have a single stage 60 gal 5HP compressor I bought at Builders Square (100 yrs ago). To really blast well with a pressure blaster you need 15 CFM and some reserve capacity in the tank. you can run all the things you mentioned with you current compressor but you will wait. Waiting might not be the best thing with that HVLP gun.

Jeff

Do you know your current CFM rating?? And the size of your cabinet? Just curious.. Thanks!

I have the same compressor, and it would not move enough air for the HVLP gun I had. The gun was a Hawk 827 (don't recall the requirements for it), but the little Craftsman would not push enough CFM to make it work. DA yes, blaster yes (on both of those, if I am doing it for a long time, there are times I have to stop and let the compressor catch up), HVLP no (I found some HVLP guns that needed less CFM, but did not try them).

Thanks Eric....is your blaster a smaller one with a small 2mm nozzle?

I have the same compressor, and it would not move enough air for the HVLP gun I had. The gun was a Hawk 827 (don't recall the requirements for it), but the little Craftsman would not push enough CFM to make it work. DA yes, blaster yes (on both of those, if I am doing it for a long time, there are times I have to stop and let the compressor catch up), HVLP no (I found some HVLP guns that needed less CFM, but did not try them).


Eric, Same question I posed to Eastwood Co..... here is their answer... just an example:

Use our #51550 Concours paint gun and you will achieve better than expected results with your compressor as this unit atomizes 2 component paints very nice with only 4cfm at 29psi

I have a 60 gallon Craftman with a single stage compressor. It held up to continuous sand blasting but ran constantly. 60 gallon tank is a must for long term air flow without waiting between tasks. If you can afford it, get a dual stage compressor and 60 gallon tank. In comparing one compressor to another, aside from overall quality, look for highest psi's at highest cfm's.